Iraqi gov’t to bring home Mosul refugees from Syrian camp

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi government is due to return home thousands of Mosul refugees who have crossed the Syrian border and settled in al-Hol camp since the start of a military operation against ISIS last month, said a member of parliament.

Member of Parliament and head of the migration and displacement committee Raad al-Dahlaki told Rudaw that the government will incur the cost of transportation of all the refugees back to Iraq and their resettlement in camps in Kirkuk and Salahaddin provinces.

Al-Dahlaki also revealed that the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) will help the process by allowing the convoys to pass through safe Kurdish territories on their way to their new destinations.

According to the head of the displacement and migration committee the process is due to start on Friday and Saturday.

Their numbers are estimated at 10,000 people.

The Mosul refugees who fled the battle between Iraqi troops and ISIS militants now live in al-Hol camp in Syria’s Kurdish province of Hasakah.

Tens of thousands of people have fled Mosul shortly before and during the military campaign to retake Iraq’s second largest city from ISIS.

According to UN and other aid agencies around 50,000 of them have sought shelter in camps set up in Kurdish-controlled territories.